THE GOD OF DECEPTION

Chapter Thirteen: Sounds and Screams

Percy

…

Percy tried to empathy link with Grover for the fourth time that day. It was getting exhausting, fighting Kampe and trying to find time to get in contact with his friends. There were seconds where he was able to hide out, just for a moment, but soon after Kampe would find him, and the cycle would go on again. He just wasn't able to catch a break.

Even his thoughts were becoming repetitive. He did the same things every day, asked the same questions every day, noticed the same things everyday. All of this fighting was getting nowhere, and he had no idea about how to stop it. All he knew was that he just had to keep doing it, everyday, from noon to night. There was no evidence to it, nor any purpose, it seemed.

It's not like new information was coming up in every battle. Kampe didn't just accidentally slip him Dolos's plan, and she never told him where exactly in the labyrinth they were. The most he could get out of her on most days was a grunt or a curse. Usually towards him. Followed by fast charging. So then they went back to their fighting. Not much else happened, Kampe wasn't budging, and the empathy link was not working. Percy was trying so hard to focus, but then again, when you constantly had to keep an eye out for Kampe, not much of that could happen. It was probably his side which tripped things up.

But Percy couldn't help but worry, Grover and Annabeth were in the Labyrinth after all. And if there was one thing he knew about the Labyrinth, it was that it had no mercy. No questioning, Percy was not doubting Annabeth's ability or Grovers, they were perfectly capable. He was just worried about what they were facing, and if they had gotten hurt.

The most important thing was making sure his friends were safe. If they weren't, then Percy wouldn't be able to forgive himself. Or, it was inevitable that they would be unsafe, but if one of them was hurt, if one of them…

He couldn't skitter around the topic. If one of them died, Percy would never forgive himself. If Annabeth was hurt or killed, Percy didn't know what he'd do. She was the only one that helped him get through all of this, the only one he could properly cope with. Tarturus had still taken a toll on the two of them, and if one left the other alone well… let's say it wouldn't go well.

And Grover, Percy's best friend. The best friend he hadn't seen in person in ages. If he was gone, then… Percy would lose the first person who had ever seen him for him. Other than his mother, or course.

Oh, his mom. She must be worried sick about him. That is, if she even knows. Camp to parent communication was never the best. But still, Percy figured at least Rachel or Annabeth would have let Sally Jackson know.

There were so many people that Percy loved and trusted. Ones that could be left vulnerable by this. Ones that Percy didn't want to lose, some that Percy couldn't lose. If he died, he'd leave all of those people behind for the underworld. Which was a whole other story.

So Percy kept fighting. As hard as he could. It was for the people he loved, all of it. There was no way he'd ever leave them behind by choice. At Kampe's blows, he jumped away, and at her strikes, he blocked. Hopefully by the end of this, some good would come out of it. Change. A new beginning, for real this time.

…

He kept fighting, but it was getting hard. Today, especially. Kampe had seemed to figure out his weak points, and was targeting him in those spots. He couldn't lie, she was a smart fighter. But not as smart as him, hopefully. Percy had picked up more than a couple of tricks around the camp arena, more in action. Kampe's underneath was her most vulnerable spot, that was her blind spot. If he could slide underneath without her noticing, then maybe he could get her down for the day.

The son of Poseidon readied his stance, sword in hand. Placing one foot in front of the other, he started at a slow sprint from a couple of feet away. Last second, he rolled over, sliding underneath. Well, almost. Because of course, at least a minute, one of the snakes on Kampe's head spotted him and well.

He was screwed.

As he slid under, Percy could anticipate what would happen. She would back up one step, then push his sword away, and he'd be cornered. He wished he had the time to stop it, but it was all happening before his eyes, and before he knew it, his heart was pounding, his chest was heaving, and of course, the worst of all, was stuck.

Maybe this was it. If it was, then Percy knew how much people he would hurt. He knew that if he did die, there would be almost no hope. Which meant he couldn't die. He had to find a way to get out of this, he had to—

A loud crack interrupted Percy's thoughts, and Kampe's too, it seemed. Percy was able to slip away just a little bit, but he hoped whatever or whoever had caused that crash knew what they were doing, and they could get him out. He craned his neck for a view, but wasn't able to see yet. Kampe was quickly recovering, just as she did every time, but out of the blue, let out a screech. Percy perked up, and for a moment, everything went black, his vision was obscured.

His eyes shut, and maybe, his brain said, maybe this was peace. Maybe this was goodbye.

When his eyes flashed open seconds later, it retracted that idea. Because the people standing above him were the people that he knew had been searching for him this entire time. His most trusted friends. He managed a smile, and reached his hands up, shutting his eyes open and closed a couple of times.

"It's really you guys," Percy said to his friends. "Am I hallucinating?"

Grover smiled, and reached out his hand. "Looks like we got here just in the nick of time."

Percy took his hand, and the Satyr pulled him up. He looked over to Annabeth, whose face was ashen and grim. Her curls looked dry and unkempt. In short, she looked beautiful. "You did," he said, not looking away. He then turned over to where they had entered. It was the hole he had been using to determine what time of day it was. The small light source he had. "And what's out there?" Percy added. It was big enough for a human to fit through, but not big enough to see what was on the other side.

Annabeth bit her lip, and motioned over to Kampe, who seemed to be having a bit of a hard time. "We'll explain later," she said, her brows furrowing, "for now, let's get you out of here."

He hesitated for a moment, so many questions coming and going through his head. What if I can't leave? Have you seen Dolos anymore? What are we supposed to do when we've gone? They still had a long way to go if they were to fulfill the prophecy, or destiny, as some called it. Yeah, he'd escaped from the "noon till night/he must fight" part, but there was still the "only once trickery is deceived/will the gods be freed" section and the "in the maze" parts. How were they supposed to know where to go? How were they supposed to know if they were doing this right?

That was a bit hypocritical. Percy never knew what he was doing. Even when he was supposed to know what he was doing. He just tried different things out and hoped for the best. Most of the time, it worked. A mix of skill, experience, and sometimes pure luck. Of course, he wasn't as sharp as Annabeth, but he could get by pretty easily. He wasn't stupid, like some said. Just wasn't smart in the conventional way.

But Percy was getting ahead of himself. They had a cave to escape. Annabeth motioned him over, and they all sprinted toward the opening, Kampe writhing behind them. As always (despite the fact he expected it, it annoyed him even more each time), she was recovering fast, so they pushed Grover through first together, and Percy had half the mind to talk to Annabeth right then in there, in the maybe five second period where they were alone (and, conveniently, a monster was about to kill them), but he swatted the thought away, and helped her through next.

Just then, as if Kampe knew that he was trying to escape, she got up, and began charging. With one of his last ounces of strength, he pulled himself in and through the hole, just as Kampe collided with it. His arm bended in a way it probably should never have bended, so weird there was no way to describe it.

With a last breath, the tired black-haired boy fell to the ground. "I think I dislocated my shoulder." He said quite plainly. Well, maybe not to that extent. But something was definitely wrong with it. It hurt like Hades.

But Annabeth and Grover were looking at something else. "Seriously?" Percy complained, "another one? Why can't they just give us a chance to get ready?"

Annabeth looked back at Percy with a warning look on her face. It made his heart throb. And his arm. Even more than before. It really hurt. Turning to see what the damage was, his throat felt like it had twisted. Ew. That was nasty. He would definitely need a sling or something. Both Annabeth and Grover were carrying packs on their back.

And he had forgotten his stuff with Kampe. Was there anything important? Just the Riptide, but hopefully that would return to his pocket sometimes soon. With his non-injured hand, he checked real quick, but it wasn't there.

Then he picked himself up, and tried to see what Annabeth and Grover were looking at.

It was a little bit weird. The monster, which kind of looked like a twisted hyena (but more deadly, and less probably stupid than the hyena's from The Lion King) It was shaking around, and twitching all over the place. Was it a threat? Percy couldn't be sure. He inched close to his friend and girlfriend, wanting to ask them what was going on. "What is it?" He asked Annabeth hesitantly.

Unconsciously, she wrapped her hand around his. He winced, it hurting a little bit, but didn't mind. He had missed holding her hand. Missed being with her in general, really. "A Leucrotta. We encountered it earlier."

"Looks kind of like a hyena." He pointed out.

Annabeth nodded. "Mortal historians think that old travelers saw these and over-exaggerated them, but they were really hyenas. Unfortunately, mortal historians are wrong most of the time. These monsters can imitate the cries of men." Her voice was shaking a bit.

"When you encountered it," Percy hesitated to ask it, "did you hear anything familiar?" His first jump was to Luke, since Dolos had appeared as him first. But he didn't want to assume.

Annabeth nodded. "You. I thought that you were in danger. But I couldn't tell if it was the monster or if it was really you."

"Probably both. I was pretty loud back there." He winced. "Sorry, that sounded bad. But do you think it's going to hurt us?"

"I think it's hurting itself. Or something is happening to it." Percy turned to Grover, who was shaking his head.

"Something isn't right." Grover was shaking his head, still watching it.

They all were, in fact. The shaking was getting faster and faster, until it stopped, and the monster just… fell to the ground. Stopped moving. Percy turned to Annabeth, and then Annabeth turned to Percy. Then they both turned to Grover. "We should get out of here." All three said at the same time. If not for the situation, both would have owed Percy a coke (a blue one, of course), but this was not the best time for jinxes.

Annabeth's hand squeezed Percy. "We should find a way to camp if we can. I feel really tired." Percy found himself getting tired too. Even though the Labyrinth wasn't exactly reliable sleeping grounds, it was still important to get rest.

Grover nodded. "I agree." He said. "And we should figure out how to get out of here. And back to camp."

"Does camp think I'm a bad guy or something?" Percy asked. He was genuinely curious."

Grover and Annabeth exchanged a look. Percy didn't like those looks. "We'll talk later." Annabeth said, after a debate through eyes with Grover.

Percy sighed. Despite the fact he wanted to know more now, he had to be okay with this. At least there was a "later" this time.

…

disclaimer: if I was lying this whole time, wouldn't I have just gotten tired of it? So not RR.

a/n: sorry, this was posted a little bit later than normal, but here it is! This chapter was honestly so easy to write, but I had to span it over a couple of days because of school homework and all that jazz. I really am not liking school, why is there so much work? I really hope you all have a nice day/night you guys are amazing for reading, it means a lot to me. Thank you all so much for the support, it means a lot. Leave a review, let me know what you think of the chapter. Stay safe and healthy! Until the next chapter!

—TheLil'Lion